Pope John Paul II profile

He travelled more than any other Pope in history, helped bring about the
collapse of Communism through his support of the Solidarity movement in his
native Poland, and is remembered for his charisma and warmth

Pope John Paul II's outspoken support for human rights helped topple Communism in Poland and eventually the rest of Eastern EuropePhoto: AFP

The first non-Italian Pope in 455 years when he was elected in 1978, Pope John Paul II brought new vitality to the Vatican – but alienated many Roman Catholics with his conservative social views and authoritarian style of governance.

Baptised Karol Wojtyla, he was born in a small town near Krakow, in southern Poland, the son of an army officer, in 1920. His mother died when he was eight years old and he was raised single-handedly by his father.

He became a parish priest and rose steadily through the Church hierarchy, eventually rising to become a cardinal. But when he was elected Pope in October 1978, he was still a relative outsider in the Vatican’s corridors of power.

In 1981 he nearly died in an assassination attempt when a Right-wing Turkish extremist, Mehmet Ali Agca, shot him at close range in St Peter’s Square. One bullet went through his abdomen and another narrowly missed his heart. He survived after extensive surgery but his health was affected from then on.

Pope John Paul II’s first foreign trip as pontiff was back to his homeland, Poland.

The visit, in 1979, helped foster the birth of the Solidarity labour movement a year later.

His outspoken support for human rights helped topple Communism in Poland and eventually the rest of Eastern Europe.

The visit to Poland, in the words of one historian of the Cold War, “turned out to be a mortal blow to its Communist regime and to the Soviet Empire.”

His extensive travels as Pope took him to more than 120 countries, where he was greeted by huge crowds and treated as a celebrity, much as Pope Francis was during his visit to Brazil last July.

But John Paul’s teachings on family values, homosexuality, birth control, euthanasia and abortion alienated many Catholics.

“John Paul II had two main goals. The first was to combat Communism, especially in Poland where he exerted enormous influence,” said Dr Rebecca Rist, a papal expert and medieval historian at the University of Reading.

“The second was to check aspects of what many conservative Catholics saw as the increasingly out-of-control dynamic of the spirit of Vatican II.

“Whereas John XXIII (who convened the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s) wanted to 'open the window’ on reforming the Church, John Paul II seems to have believed that in some respects that window had been opened too wide.”

He has also been accused of turning a blind eye to the scandal of priests sexually abusing children, despite the overwhelming evidence of the problem that emerged during the latter part of his papacy.

Despite his warm public persona, he could be stubborn and quick-tempered, Vatican officials admitted last week.

When it was suggested that he wear a bullet-proof vest following the attempt on his life, he gave the idea short shrift, said Msgr Slawomir Oder, the Polish priest and “postulator” who led the campaign to make John Paul a saint.

“He was a man of flesh and blood. He had defects, just like any man. He could be hot-blooded,” said Msgr Oder.

John Paul II suffered various health problems during the 1990s, including a benign intestinal tumour that required an operation, a fractured shoulder and Parkinson’s disease.

The disease left him increasingly debilitated and he eventually died at the age of 84 on April 2, 2005.

He declared more saints – 482 – than all of his predecessors combined.

They included Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was killed at Auschwitz, and Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan friar who sacrificed his life at the death camp so that a man with a family could live.

He also beatified 1,338, a record-number. Among them was Pope John XXIII, who will be canonised together with him on Sunday.